


Sick Days

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka (TV)
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, M/M, Romance, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 17:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9501956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: Nathan gets a call telling him Carter is taking a sick day, and that bothers Nathan.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For **SmallFandomFest** Fest 20

Nathan ended the call with a frown. The last time Jack Carter took a sick day of his own volition rather than being ordered, Nathan had become trapped inside a homicidal house with abandonment issues. The problem this time was Nathan couldn't think of any particular incident that could have set Jack off. Sure, they'd sniped at each other several times that week and Nathan had belittled his intelligence, twice. He smirked because there was something almost endearing when Jack got that momentary kicked puppy look followed by bristling anger. Admittedly Nathan always made certain he had a particularly pithy remark to keep the kicked puppy look to the minimum as even he wasn't immune to it; it made him feel incredibly guilty. Yet he could recall nothing out of the ordinary when he looked back over the week's interactions. Nathan could think of only one other person who could have caused a Carter 'sick day' so he pressed a button on the desk console, gaining an immediate response.

"Allison! You and Carter have a fight?"

Ordinarily nothing would give Nathan more pleasure than to learn Allison had set Carter straight over his not-so-little crush on her. There was a long pause that Nathan took for guilt.

"Why are you asking about-?"

"So that's a yes," he interrupted with a smirk.

"Nathan," she admonished. "It's not a yes... but not a no either, and whatever happened between us happened weeks ago. If anyone has upset Carter then I'd lay my bet on you as the cause." She sighed. "So what's he done now?"

"He's taken a sick day."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

He knew she would be thinking of homicidal SARAH/BRAD too.

"I'll swing by the bunker later and-."

"No, Allie. As you think I'm the problem, I'll go."

Nathan turned up at the bunker twenty minutes later, having cleared the next two hours off his schedule for a Carter Intervention and put several other members of the town on alert in case it all went sideways. He pressed the door bell even though SARAH would already know he was there. A minute passed with nothing happening. Thoughts of homicidal SARAH sprang to mind once more but, more likely....

"SARAH, tell Carter I have an override password and I'm prepared to use it."

The hermetic seal breaking hissed as the door opened, framing Nathan in the doorway as he looked across the room with a sense of deja-vu. Jack was standing on the other side of the couch dressed in sleepwear and his ratty blue dressing gown... except this time he looked dreadful. His face was pale and sweaty, making the dark rings under his eyes more pronounced, and he looked weak, a little shaky, as if he was barely able to stand.

Jack was sick.

"Sit down before you fall down," Nathan ordered, and strode forward. "SARAH?"

"I tried to convince Sheriff Carter to call Doctor Blake but he insisted he didn't require medical attention."

"It's just a cold... or flu." Talking must have triggered the coughing fit, and it did not look or sound good as Jack doubled over, arms wrapped around his ribs.

"We do have a cure for the common cold," Nathan stated worriedly.

"My health... insurance doesn't cover that," Jack griped back as he slumped back onto the nest of blankets he'd made for himself, weakened further by the coughing.

Nathan strode to the wall console and pulled up Jack's medical insurance contract and, sure enough, normal ailments were exempt, especially if they were prohibitively expensive. Nathan discovered the Common Cold Cure was for assets such as himself and top researchers who were vital to Global Dynamics, along with their close family as people tended not to concentrate on their work if a family member was ailing. The local sheriff? Support staff? Not so vital according to the pen-pushers. Nathan sighed in annoyance.

"SARAH? Do you have a medical station?"

"In the bathroom, Doctor Stark, and it is checked and updated weekly."

Nathan heard the sound of a drawer opening in the bathroom area and went to check its contents, not hearing Jack pad up behind him so he almost jumped when Jack spoke up.

"I have drugs concealed in my house?" He frowned. "And someone is in my house every week planting them?"

"Carter, none of the drugs here are illegal, and the bunker was built in the eventuality of a disaster; able to house up to eighty people."

"There are three bedrooms and one bathroom," Jack pointed out blandly.

"That you can see."

Jack narrowed his eyes and looked up. "SARAH?"

"Doctor Stark is correct. There are three larger levels below this one."

"And you never thought to mention this before? Of course you didn't," he answered his own question. "WOW! I really am living in a nuclear bunker!"

Jack wobbled on his feet and Nathan grabbed for him, supporting him as he took him back to his nest of blankets. Although he would normally leave all the general medical work for Allison, Nathan was equally qualified as a doctor so he put on the stethoscope and after a few silly hand slapping motions from Jack trying to stop him, he listened to Jack's lungs, ordering him to take a breath. After the token resistance Jack seemed to lose all the energy to fight him. Nathan finished his check up and went back to the medical station, pulling out various bottles and mixing a few together. He poured some into a measuring cup and took it over to Jack.

"Drink up."

"Was is it?"

"You really think I'd try to hurt you? Trust me. It'll help."

Jack gazed up at him with tired, dulled eyes and sighed, downing the contents in one swallow but Nathan could see how much it hurt Jack to follow orders blindly. He realized it wouldn't cost him anything to explain for once.

"It's an expectorant, to loosen the mucus in your chest. Make the cough more productive."

"As if my chest doesn't hurt enough already. My ribs feel busted."

Nathan wasn't sure what made him call Fargo to reschedule the rest of his day so he could spend the afternoon nursing a sick sheriff, especially as he ended up spending the next twenty-four hours at the bunker. He plied Jack with warm water, broth, and honeyed drinks provided by SARAH. He held him through coughing fits and even cleaned him up once or twice when the coughing triggered his gag reflex. Jack slept sporadically, woken by his coughing only to settle back quickly under Nathan's tender care, and while he slept Nathan used those few moments to check through emails and read some of the many dull reports that came through his office.

Allison turned up the next morning and she looked surprised when the door opened and she found Nathan seated on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table with his laptop aptly named for once, lying across his lap. Jack was seated upright, fast asleep against him as he used Nathan's shoulder for a pillow. Nathan pressed a finger against his lips to request silence before tapping out a few more words on this latest report. He glanced across at her as she settled into a seat close by.

Keeping his voice low, "The cough's abating. He's been asleep for over an hour."

"You didn't have to stay with him," Allison replied, keeping her voice down too. "You could have ordered in a nurse or transferred him to Global."

"And spread his cold around Global? Not everyone has access to the medication they need, but if **I** catch his cold," he emphasized, "I can take the cure."

Allison smiled warmly. "And that's the only reason?"

"What other reason could there be?"

"Oh... maybe the same reason Jack and I had words the other week."

Nathan was confused.

"We kissed... and it wasn't as spectacular as he thought it would be," she added quickly before Nathan could tense too much and waken Jack. "The previous time was when we had to convince all your nano-clones to come to the hall."

"I don't understand the significance-."

"He's not in love with me, Nathan. He's in love with you." Her look turned sly. "And whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, you know you're in love with him too." She stood up slowly. "I can see he's in good hands so I'll be going now." She paused on the threshold. "Just tell him, Nathan."

The door closed softly behind her and Nathan was lost in thought for a few minutes until he realized Jack was awake.

"How much did you overhear?"

"Some of it... Most of it," he amended. "Okay, fine, I heard all of it."

"So you've got a crush on me, Carter?"

"I knew you'd be an ass about it," Jack grumbled as he pushed upright and tried to pull away, but Nathan pulled him back.

"Seems I have a crush on you too," he added mildly, kissing Jack's hair.

There wasn't any passionate kisses or a flurry of hands trying to find and map skin, though this did come much later when Jack was better. For now there was just tenderness and caring, but it was a good start for the rest of their lives.

END  
 


End file.
